We live in an era when conspiracy theories abound and thrive. With the rise of the internet came the rise of powerful echo chambers, which allow otherwise absurd beliefs to find a ready audience and to spread into unwilling and vulnerable minds. The problem is that conspiracy theories are baseless claims built mostly upon psychological (rather than epistemological) inclinations and driven by ideological motivation, so the conspiracy mentality (the disposition to believe in conspiracy theories or to reason without good cause or evidence) is certainly not a good parameter to determine what we believe or not.
Why do we believe in conspiracy theories?
Why are so many people so ready to believe in conspiracy theories? Research provides no definitive answer. Perhaps we’re highly tuned to detect patterns of abuse from authority-like figures, even if we often imagine those patterns rather than discover them. We like to think we’re smart enough to detect when something’s not right, and as humans we’re incredibly adept at connecting the dots, regardless of whether there’s actually a connection there. We get a sense of control and superiority when we think of ourselves as discoverers of hidden plots, rendering everyone else “dumber” than us not seeing them. That might be part of the explanation.
Or perhaps we’re just adapted to hold beliefs that give us emotional arousal, regardless of whether those beliefs are true or not. Or maybe it’s all of the above. But whatever the answer might be, the fact remains: many human beings are prone to believing in conspiracy theories, which itself means they’re more than willing to engage in poor reasoning and mistaken thought processes. That can be incredibly dangerous, especially when those people hold actual political power.
Why are they dangerous?
Conspiracy theories are dangerous precisely because they are based on “gut feelings” or the so-called “common sense,” as well as on political interests rather than on actual evidence. If anyone acts upon a conspiracy theory, they acting on mere speculation and taking it as fact. They are thus likely to get things wrong and do more harm than good: at their core, these actions are not guided by solid reasoning.
Take anti-vaxxers, for example. Their actions actually put others in harm’s way, all because of a general misconception about vaccines and an irrational evaluation of medical science. Anti-vaxxers get married with one belief, dismiss the overwhelming body of evidence that goes against it, and argue that it’s all a conspiracy by the pharmaceutical industry—all without any real evidence for their conclusion. The same pattern applies to basically all conspiracy theories out there: from the flat-earthers to climate change deniers.
And since many conspiracy theories are so often politically motivated, usually directed against a specific population (consider all the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories out there, for instance), their cause can in fact be explicitly aim at doing harm (let’s not forget Hitler used the conspiracy mindset against the Jewish population, leading to the Holocaust).
It’s always dangerous to act on outright false premises, especially if we have no good epistemological reasons for believing them. Imagine a person who blatantly ignores the evidence that the building they’re in is about to collapse. That person might explain away all the little indications of incoming catastrophe and never consider them jointly: “the tremors are caused by earthquakes, the rumbling is just a noisy neighbor,” etc. That’s exactly the mentality of a conspiracy theorist, and the dangers of such situations are pretty evident. The building will collapse, and they’re going to be in it. It’s worse when that person puts others’ lives at risk in their stubbornness (supposing, for example, that we’re talking about the head of a family who won’t let their children out).
Now, let’s use a real life example. Climate change deniers are unequivocally conspiracy theorists, since for their worldview to be true, the whole scientific community would have to be colluding with governments all over the planet and keeping their true arrangement secret—no less than a global conspiracy, that is. The problem here is not only that their reasoning is flawed, but that by ignoring the warnings of a collapsing planet and by acting as if nothing were happening, they are actually endangering the rest of us as well, not to mention future generations.
The political power of conspiracy theories
So, while conspiracists like flat earthers might appear to be harmless, they are actually engaging in a terrible mentality that should be called out as soon as it is detected. It’s this kind of mentality that makes us vulnerable to taking hostile or harmful action and remain convinced that we’re in the right.
Unfortunately, the exploitation of this mechanism has made its way to the heart of our own democratic systems across the world. It has happened before, like during World War II, where millions were disenfranchised or killed because of mass conspiracy mentality. And it’s happening now. When world leaders start advocating for conspiracy theories in order to cater to their base and advance their political interest, we know something has gone wrong.
Trump, for example, baselessly promotes any conspiracy theory that he can conjure up on the spot for his own gain. Take his claim that the climate crisis is all a Chinese hoax (a textbook conspiracy theory), or his constant cries that Democrats and the free media are actively conspiring against him. Unfortunately, his method has given him results, and has blinded American citizens in the process. There can be no true democracy when the people is misdirected, and conspiracy theories are the biggest misdirection of all. That politicians are getting away with using conspiracy theories to harm political opponents is a sad sign of a failing democracy.
What can we do?
So, what could the solution be? We must all demand higher knowledge standards from ourselves and others. We must all learn to identify the signs of a conspiracy theory (baseless speculation taken as fact, denial of the known scientific bodies, etc.), and avoid them like the plague. Remember: the fact that some explanation makes sense to you isn’t evidence for it. That you think something is “obvious” isn’t evidence for it. The fact that you think it likely, or that it’s the best explanation you can come up with, isn’t evidence for it.
With people like Trump, conspiracy theories have moved from the fringes of society into the very center of political life. And many of them, like climate change denialism, are not only a threat to our democracy, but to the very survival of humanity as a whole. It’s up to each of us to put a stop to it.
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